Blogs

Dear sponsors and supporters:

We would like to share with you these videos from ordaining of young novice monks by Wat Phum Thom pagoda in August 2011.

Buddhist ordaining is a special event for Khmer Krom people, especially for young Khmer Krom boys. Becoming a monk represents a commitment to scholarship, spiritual development, and humble life.

It is also an important event for their families because many indigenous people are poor and cannot afford to send their children to school beyond secondary level.

Becoming ordain as a Buddhist monk provides an alternative to public school where indigenous children may struggle due to language or cultural barrier that results in high drop-out low success rates.

I am happy to share with everyone that Wat Phum Thom pagoda has made great progress because of the dedication of our communities and monks. In June of 2011, an additional 15 students will be ordained as monks to introduce and preserve the culture and religion of Dharma. Please see the attached recent photographs of the school progress. It is on the way to completion, and I would like to appeal to all world Buddhists on behalf of Wat Phum Thom pagoda for generous contributions to helping poor children and also helping preserving Theravada form of Buddhism in South Vietnam.

Thank you,
Khmer Krom Children

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  School

VOKK on December 5th, 2010 did a brief interview with one Khmer Krom monk in our province. To listen to the interview, visit http://vokk.net/?p=2815

Points from the interview are:
1) There are a substantial number of Khmer people who live in this province
2) Khmer Krom from Binh Phuoc have three existing pagodas
3) One temple [our temple] in Loc Ninh district has opened Khmer language classes for Khmer Krom youths
4) Khmer in this province managed to preserved their cultural traditions and celebrations very well

Interview From VOKK, source: VOKK Radio

By Don Lam
August 8th, 2010

This week at Wat Phum Thom Pagoda the first test for Khmer language was undertaken by the abbots. The exam tested over 70 students for an accumulated knowledge that took three months of studies. These studies were afforded by the summer break in the national school. That the exam had taken place this week while the return to national school from break is also taking place this week is no coincidence.

Image: Binh Phuoc Gov. News

By Don Lam
June 24, 2010
I have received news from our grass root community layman involved in our Khmer literacy project that Mr. Son Son of the Khmer Minority's representative stationed in the nation's capital-Hanoi- had paid our small town a visit last month.

His excellency hosted a banquet for the various Khmer communities in the province and an ostentatious cultural shows were performed at our Wat Phum Thom temple welcoming Mr. Son.

Lesson 1: Grade 1, Provided by KhmerSchool on YouTube

YouTube these days have a plethora of information, video information that is. These information ranges in all topics and category; how-to's, tech talks, music videos, and tutorials.

In recent months there have also been an increase in diverse contents from different people as well, cultural specific contents are becoming more available and YouTube continues to be enriched by these different contents.

Searching for topics on Khmer Language for example, I found several uploads by different authors on learning how to read and speak the language. Starting from the elemental, alphabets to higher level reading.

Here for example, video tutorial uploaded by KhmerSchool teaches viewers about the vowels of Khmer alphabets. This is part of a series of lesson with 23 parts.

I encourage all Khmer Language students check out these videos. It is very helpful. You can also visit this website goCambodia for comprehensive reading lessons